Charles Lynch, Eighth and Eleventh Governor of Mississippi: June to November 1833; 1836-1838

Charles Lynch migrated to Mississippi from his native South Carolina,
where he was born in 1783. Lynch is one of the few governors of Mississippi
who held office in all three branches of state government. He is also
one of the very few men in the state’s history who served as a judge
even though he was not a lawyer. Lynch was a farmer when he was appointed
probate judge of Lawrence County by the Mississippi Legislature in 1821.

From 1827 to 1833, Lynch represented Lawrence County in the state senate.
He was a leader of the Jacksonian Democrats in Mississippi, and strongly
opposed South Carolina’s 1832 attempt to nullify the tariff. While
serving as president of the Mississippi Senate, Lynch became governor
in June 1833 upon the death of Governor Abram Scott. Under the 1832 Mississippi
Constitution the office of lieutenant governor was abolished and the line
of succession passed from the governor to the president of the state senate.
He served until November when Hiram Runnels, who was elected governor
in the May 1833 election, assumed the office of governor. During his brief
six-month administration, Lynch urged the legislature to establish a state
system of public schools but the legislature considered his plan too expensive
and did not enact it.

In the 1835 governor’s race Charles Lynch, who ran as a Whig candidate,
was elected by only 426 votes, the second smallest margin in state history.
Governor Lynch, who was inaugurated January 7,1836, was the first governor
to hold an elaborate inaugural ceremony. He was formally escorted into
the chamber of the House of Representatives and introduced to a joint
session of the Mississippi Legislature. Before the joint assembly, the
chief justice of the state supreme court administered the oath of office
and officially installed him as the governor and commander-in-chief of
the army, navy, and militia of the state of Mississippi. His inaugural
address was read to the assembly by a prominent Mississippi statesman,
Adam L. Bingaman.

During his administration, Governor Lynch brought about extensive changes
in Mississippi’s criminal code, which he called the “Bloody
Code” because it imposed the death penalty on a large number of
offenses. He also recommended the establishment of a state penitentiary,
which was authorized by the legislature and opened in 1840.

Lynch became governor during a period of great economic prosperity. But
at the peak of that prosperity, the Panic of 1837 caused Mississippi’s
economy to collapse, and the state suffered through several years of severe
depression. During that depression, thousands of Mississippians fled to
Texas to escape foreclosure on their farms and slaves. It was during that
brief period that the phrase, “G. T. T.,” meaning “Gone
to Texas.” was so often heard in explaining the whereabouts of many
individuals.

In an effort to shore up the state’s banking system and alleviate
the shortage of money and credit, Mississippi issued $5,000,000 in bonds
and invested them in the Union Bank, a newly established state bank. But
land prices continued to decline and the Union Bank failed within a year.
The state was left with the worthless bank stock and a huge debt. Governor
Lynch, whose popularity declined along with the state’s economy,
did not seek re-election in 1837.

Following his term as governor, Lynch served briefly as president of
the Alabama and Mississippi Railroad Company and commissioner of public
buildings. After his tenure as building commissioner, Lynch retired to
his plantation home near Jackson where he remained until his death February
9, 1853.

David Sansing, Ph.D., is history professor emeritus, University of
Mississippi.